The sun. [volume] (Morris, Stevens County, Minn.) 1882-1895, 1887-06-30

l nave to Of1er you.
She was interrupted by O. childish
voice, which came from behind plank
partition forming a kind OF dark clos
ct in one of the corners of the place.
"Good night" added La Feuriotte,
Tll be looking after the little ons-,
who's getting scared. Try to sleep
WE'LL"
She took the lamp and sought the
adjoining closet, leaving the Bretonne
in the dark.
The later had stretched herself on
the sweet heather. After eating her
frugal meal, she tried to close her eyes,
but sleep would not come to their
| tired lids. Through the partition
boards she heard La Fleuriotte chat
ting in low voice to her little one,
| who had been woke by the arrival OF
the stranger and would not 60 to
sleep again. La Fleuriotte fondled
| and coaxed and kissed her darling
with endearing words, the a-tless ex-
| preston of which moved the poor
| BretOnne in an unwonted manner.
| 1t summoned up h confused maternal
instinct still slumbering in the breast
| of one who had been condemned for
sitting her newborn babe. She was
| alive to the fact that if things 'had
not turned out badly" her own little
one would now be about as old as
that little girl.
A motherly yearning rose in her
beating heart. Her feelings, SO long
chilled, were reused to their inmost
| depths by this haunting thought and
the sound of the sweet childish voice;
a melting softness spread througout
her being, and she had a good mind to
give way to tears.
"Now, my darling" said La Fleu-
| riotte, ''go to sleep like a good girl,
and il you do, I'll take you to-mor-
row. to Sainte GATHERINGS Fair"
"Sainte Catherine is the festival for
little girls, isn't it, mammal"
"Yes, my dear"
"Is it true that on that day Saintc
Catherine brings pretty toys to chill
dren?"
"Yes, sometimes"
"Why, then, doesn't she ever bring
some to me, mammal"
Because we live so far away, and
| then again we are too poor"
''Then, she only brings toys to the
rich, does she? Why? l should like
| to have some too"
"Well, some day, if you are a good
girl and go to sleep, she may perhaps
bring you some Also"
ooh, then I'll GO to sleep right off,
SO she may bring me some to-mor-
row."
A stiffness followed Then the soft,
gentle breathing of both mother and
c,Iild showed that they had followed
asleep together.
But the Bretonne could not close
her eyes. A feeling at once indignant
and tender clutched her at the heart,
| and more than ever before at any
| time of her life she thought of the de-
| fenceless, harmless little creature she
had ruthlessly strangled.
This dreadful. remorseful feeling
| lasted until the first streak of dawn.
| At break OF day LaFleuriotte and her
child were still locked in ca ch others
arms.
The Bretonne noiselessly crept out
of the hovel, and making the best OF
| her way back to Auberive, slackened
| her stepsonly when she reached the
| first houses of the small place. She
slowly walked up the only street in the
| village, intently gazing at the sign
| boards over each shop.
At last one of these signs arrested
| her attention. She knocked at the
| shutters and the door was opened.
| 1t was one of those little country
stores where, besides a variety Of
haberdashery wares, cheap second
hand toys may be bought, cardboard
dolls, Noah's arks, and baa-lambs.
The amazement of the woman who
kept the store was unbounded when
she saw the Bretonne buy up and pay
for the whole stock.
The Bretonne was proceeding with
| ajoyful heart on her way back to the
| hovel when heavy-gloved hand fell
upon her shoulder. She started. and.
on turning round, shuddered to find
herself tace to face with a corporal
| of gendarmes.
that all liberated convicts wereforbid-
den to remain In the precincts OF tho
Central House of Detention.
Instead of vagabondizing round
here, you ought to have already
reached Langres," said the military
man in a gruff voice. "Come, be off,
She wanted to explain, but it was OF
no use. A cart was put into requisi-
ton; she had to get up into it, and
away went the horses, under escort OF
one of the gendarmes.
| The cart jolted mercilessly along the
frozen road. Thepo Bretonne, with
a ahalf-broken heart, clutched her little
parcel of playthings in her benumbed
fingers. Soon, at q turn in the road,
she discovered the path which entered
the wood.
Her heart leaped and she besought
the gendarme to stop for a moment.
She had commission, she said, for
La FleuriOtte, woman who lived
there, close by. She besought with
| such an earnestness of manner and
feeling that the gendarme, who after
all was good-natured fellow, allowed
himself to be swayed by her entreaties.
| The cart was stopped, the horse
was tied to a tree, the gendarme and
his prisoner got down, and they went
up the path that led to the hovel in
the wood.
LA Fleuriotte was busy chopping
wood in front of her door. When she
looked up and caught sight of the
woman whom she had housed on the
previous evening in the hands OF a
gendarme she stood with her mouth
open like one petrified.
"Hush!" calculated the Bretcnne,
as she put her finger to her lips. "Is
the little one still asleep?"
ayes; but"
Garry these toys softly to her bed
side and tell her that Sainte Catherine
sent them to her. Iwent back to Au-
berive to fetch them, but it seems 1
had no right to do SO, and / am be-
ing taken on to Langres."
"Holy mother OF Godp' exclaimed
La Fleuriotte,
"Hushp'
They all drew near the bed where
the child lay.
Tho Prot O,ca &ool, +Lo oor2l,ooc5